Local self-government development in Lithuania
ENThe Lithuanian Constitution devotes an entire chapter – Chapter X entitled ‘Local Self-Government and Governance’ – including six articles, to local government. It guarantees the right to self-government to administrative units of the territory of the state, which are provided for by law and proclaims that this will be implemented through corresponding municipal councils. The Constitutional Court takes very seriously the terms of Chapter X of the Constitution on local self-government, as attested by various cases referred to throughout this report. There is an awareness of the European Charter of Local Self-Government by Council of Europe, at any rate in official circles, in Lithuania. It is referred to in five Constitutional Court judgments, and there are six rulings related to the Charter. It is significant here that the Constitution establishes a monistic system of reception. However, although they become a constituent part of the legal system, not all signed international treaties automatically become part of national law, nor do they have the same status as the Constitution. Once ratified and in force, they acquire the same power as laws, that is, lower than the Constitution. However, when in competition with a national law, the international treaty is applied. This means that the Charter can be directly relied upon in any court case. Recently, there has been an electoral case where the applicant relied on the Charter without identifying any particular article. In Lithuania there are courts with varying categories of jurisdiction. Thus, the Constitutional Court has the sole jurisdiction of determining whether laws or the actions of the President and the Government are in conflict with the Constitution.Next, the Supreme Court is at the head of a hierarchy of existing courts, including the Court of Appeal and regional courts, administering private and criminal law (for example, the constitutionality of the acts of a Minister of the Government is decided by the Supreme Administrative Court). The only specialized courts in Lithuania are the administrative courts (Article 111.2 of the Constitution). The latter is of most immediate relevance here. At the head of the system of administrative courts is the Supreme Administrative Court of Lithuania. Below it are five first instances, regional administrative courts, located in the major cities (Vilnius, Kaunas, Klaipėda, Panevėžys and Šiauliai). It is this system of courts which deals with public administration and has jurisdiction in respect of the lawfulness of the decisions taken by municipalities. [Extract, p. 253-254]
- Constitutionalism in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania: a study in comparative constitutional law / Caroline Taube. Uppsala : Iustus, 2001. 322 p.
- Institutional engineering in Lithuania: stability through compromise / Nida Gelazis. Democratic consolidation in Eastern Europe. Vol. 1, Institutional engineering / edited by Jan Zielonka. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001. P. 165-184.
